From the monthly archives: June, 2010

The Shroud of Turin is an icon of “the most radical solidarity” – Christ sharing the loneliest moment of human existence by lying in a tomb, Pope Benedict said after he knelt in silent prayer before the linen cloth.

It is not necessarily a bad thing that major media are asking questions about what Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger knew and didn’t know and how he acted and did not act in sexual abuse cases under his purview before he became pope. Once there was even one mishandled case of clergy sexual abuse discovered during his stint as archbishop of Munich, it was inevitable that questions would be asked.

When Spiritan Father Michael Troy died March 19, the feast day of his beloved St. Joseph’s High School, it was only fitting that some of the local media sent their sports reporters to the ensuing press conference. For Troy, you couldn’t separate sports and faith. In fact, for Troy, you couldn’t separate anything. Catholic missions, soccer, education, writing, philosophy, the Knights of Columbus, mountain climbing and on and on were all entwined in the whirling conglomeration of energy that was Father Michael Troy. He was catholic in the fullest sense of the word.
One of my first meetings with the man was in 1984 to do a story that I thought was to be about him retiring from St. Joe’s High. Turned out that at 65 he was just getting started. As we walked the halls of the massive school, Troy, who seemingly knew every student by name, had to cajole, encourage or backslap every one we encountered. They all loved it, loved their encounters with the extroverted priest in their midst.
Troy ...

The last two months have not been the happiest time for the Catholic Church. Media criticism of the Church for her alleged and real mishandling of sexual abuse cases have attacked the Church at her most sensitive point — her holiness.
The implication, if not the outright assertion, has been that the Church is as sordid, more sordid even, than any human institution and that it nurtures a culture of serial criminal abusers and patriarchal cover-up. The merit and lack of merit of that picture have already been discussed in these pages.
Beyond that, however, one thing that ought to be clear is that the Church not only needs a better public relations department, she also needs a fresh outbreak of holiness.
The Second Vatican Council asserted that the Church, as a matter of faith, is “unfailingly holy” because Christ loved her as his bride, giving himself up for her and sanctifying her continually. To say, as the council did, that this sanctity is real though imperfect is likely to be of no consolation to victim ...